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Criminals target mine security guards

McKeed Kotlolo

McKeed Kotlolo

A security guard was shot dead and another wounded when eight gunmen opened fire on them.

The gunmen had earlier hijacked two other guards and locked them in the back of their patrol van near Rustenburg in North West on Friday.

The 33-year-old victim, who was shot in the head and died instantly, would only be identified once his next of kin had been informed, said Captain Elsabie Augoustides of the Marico area police.

Augoustides said that early on Friday two guards in a patrol van were hijacked by about eight armed men at Mfidikwe village near the Bleskop Mine.

"They were ordered to lie on the ground before being robbed of their service firearms, a pistol and a revolver. The two were later bundled into the back of their van by the gunmen who drove around the mine in the van."

Augoustides said the gunmen came across another security patrol bakkie with two guards at Entabeni Mine hostel.

"They held them at gunpoint before they shot the one guard in the head and his colleague in the shoulder," she said.

The robbers stole the deceased's 9mm service pistol and cellphone before they fled in the first patrol bakkie with the other two guards still in the back.

They later abandoned the vehicle at Mfidikwe and fled on foot.

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